News
News
SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS by Kailee Pedersen published to fantastic reviews this week. From Los Angeles Times, Heather Scott Partington writes: “Pedersen’s grisly tale joins many distinct threads together into a terrifying end. SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS is remarkable in its keen barbarism, the author’s blending of the ordinary violence of rural life with the gravity of a Chinese myth. Her characters live ‘only for the ferocious hunt, the glorious betrayal. The suffering of others is its own delicacy,’ she writes — ‘more pleasurable than that of even raw flesh.’” Meanwhile, a review in Paste Magazine calls SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS “a masterclass in measured horror storytelling” and an “astonishing feat, a horror debut that announces Pedersen as a major new talent in the genre and in fiction at large.” St. Martin’s Press and Titan Books (U.K.) published SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS on August 20, 2024.
PEARL by Sherri L. Smith and Christine Norrie enjoyed a very successful release this week. Parade featured the graphic novel on its list of “22 Best New Book Releases This Week: August 20-26, 2024,” along with the following praise: “Anyone who thinks comic books are just for kids can start right here.” More noteworthy features include Book Riot’s “New Releases and More,” WGBH’s “The big list of summer 2024 book recommendations from your local librarians,” Ebony’s round up of August books by Black authors, SLJ Teen Librarian Toolbox’s list of new titles, and Comic Crusader’s “What’s on the Shelf, August 21st—Independent Publishers” round up. Graphix published the book on August 20, 2024.
THE BOOKSHOP by Evan Friss debuted at #9 on The New York Times Bestseller list for Hardcover Nonfiction for the week of August 25, 2024. Viking published the book on August 6, 2024.
Keith Rosson's THE DEVIL BY NAME received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, including praise for his previous novel, FEVER HOUSE: "Rosson’s stellar sequel to 2023’s FEVER HOUSE maintains that book’s artful combination of chilling postapocalyptic worldbuilding and fully developed characters... Rosson’s sophisticated plotting manages to toggle between these perspectives without ever slackening the tension. This is literary horror at its finest." THE DEVIL BY NAME comes out September 10, 2024, from Random House.
Lit Hub included CJ Leede's AMERICAN RAPTURE on its list of the "21 Most Anticipated Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books for the Rest of 2024," declaring: "MAEVE FLY was one of my favorite reads of last year and I have the highest hopes for this one." In The New York Times, Stephen Graham-Jones also name-dropped the novel as one of the books currently on his night stand. AMERICAN RAPTURE comes out October 15, 2024, from Tor/Nightfire.
Emily Hamilton's debut novel THE STARS TOO FONDLY received a starred, rave review in Shelf Awareness: "Debut author Emily Hamilton bursts onto the scene like a supernova with THE STARS TOO FONDLY, a dazzling, heartfelt space adventure novel about chosen family and the ache of existence... With humor, sweetness, and force, Hamilton's blend of sci-fi caper and slow-burning romance conveys the importance of never giving up on one another, even when lost in space and time. THE STARS TOO FONDLY marks Hamilton as an author to watch." The novel was recommended by Burlington Free Press and Book Riot ("The Best Books We Read April-June 2024"), and indie booksellers will be highlighting THE STARS TOO FONDLY in stores throughout the fall as one of its "Indies Introduce" picks. The audiobook, narrated by Vico Ortiz, won an AudioFile Earphones Award and got a nod from Lit Hub, where it was praised as " a raucous space adventure rom-com with infectious energy" and a "lively story of friendship and queer romance [that] is full of interdimensional danger and is heaps of fun on audio." THE STARS TOO FONDLY was published by Harper Voyager in the US and Gollancz in the UK on June 11, 2024.
A review for Matt Young's debut novel END OF ACTIVE SERVICE in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle deems the book to be "profane, intense and taut, like knowing a car wreck is imminent and being powerless to stop it. Bad things will happen before good ones do, which is something to remember before you open this novel. But open it, you should. This is one book you’ll talk about." END OF ACTIVE SERVICE was published by Bloomsbury on June 18, 2024.
In a review for The Wall Street Journal, Sam Sacks called Maxim Loskutoff's OLD KING "An expert panorama…Coming on the heels of his outstanding 2020 novel, RUTHIE FEAR, OLD KING shows that Mr. Loskutoff is unmatched at evoking the contentious, transitional nature of the American West, which is roiled by changing environmental values and economic realities, a place of new and clashing mythologies." The Book Report Network hailed OLD KING as "a compelling, sometimes harrowing and occasionally sweet novel confronting emotional disconnect, the relationship between humanity and nature, and modern fears about technology, all the while giving readers characters who care deeply about each other and the world around them. This smart, captivating and provocative book is highly recommended." The novel was also featured on the front page of the Missoulian, highlighting Loskutoff as a celebrated local Montana author. OLD KING was published by Norton on June 4, 2024.
Marine biologist and debut author Jasmin Graham was featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Free Times discussing her memoir SHARKS DON'T SINK, as well as the particular challenges and triumphs of being a Black woman in shark science. Meanwhile, The Tampa Bay Times raves: "Graham has become something of a shark celebrity, talking about her work on Shark Week documentaries and YouTube. But in this uplifting memoir, the sharks and the scientists who overcome bigotry to learn about them are the stars." SHARKS DON’T SINK was one of The Root's "July 2024 Books By Black Authors We Can't Wait to Read," and an excerpt was published on Lit Hub. Graham appeared on both the Today Show and CBS Mornings to promote the book at the time of its release—one stop on her 13-city tour— and she was interviewed on NPR’s On Point and Science Friday radio shows, as well as WHYY’s The Pulse, and on the Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Just the Zoo of Us, and All Creatures podcasts. Pantheon published SHARKS DON'T SINK on July 16, 2024.
Literary Awards
WAYS AND MEANS by Daniel Lefferts has been longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, which honors the best debut fiction of the year. The shortlist will be announced in September, and the winner will be named in December at the Center for Fiction's annual awards benefit. WAYS AND MEANS was published by The Overlook Press on February 6, 2024.